The FDNY confirmed on Saturday, Feb. 5, that emergency medical services transported one person to a local hospital on Wednesday, Feb. 2, from 100 W Mosholu Parkway in Jerome Park.

 

An FDNY official confirmed to Norwood News a report of an emotionally disturbed person at the location at 2:12 p.m. on the date in question, and said one person had been transported to North Central Bronx Hospital. We asked if the department could provide any further information about the incident, and if it had taken place inside DeWitt Clinton High School, since the address for the school is 100 W Mosholu Parkway South. The official simply reiterated that the incident took place at “100 W Mosholu Pkwy,” and provided no further information.

 

An emergency medical services unit was photographed outside the school on Wednesday. We had earlier reached out to the NYPD for information about the incident but a department official confirmed the agency had nothing on file that matched the date and location provided. In the meantime, we reached out to NYC Department of Education (DOE) on Saturday, Feb. 5, for comment. On Monday, a DOE representative responded, saying, “There was no security incident, and we cannot comment on an individual student’s health situation.”

 

At least one parent confirmed to Norwood News that no communication had been issued by the school to parents regarding the incident. However, as above, it is not clear if it took place on school grounds or potentially outside on the street.

 

Norwood News previously reported on a stabbing which took place outside the same school in 2019, which involved one student, according to the DOE. More recently, on Nov. 19, 2021, we reported on a stabbing at Walton High School in Kingsbridge Heights, involving two students.

 

We also reported last year on a slashing involving two students that occurred at Bronx Collaborative High School, which also has an address at 100 W Mosholu Parkway South in Jerome Park. That incident occurred on Sept. 15, 2021. At the time, we also reported on DOE’s response to the ongoing debate over the presence of school safety agents in schools, the handling of security in schools, generally, and how best to address and prevent such incidents.

 

Separately, Norwood News was informed in recent days by one Bronx parent of a shortage of school safety agents at the John F. Kennedy Campus, located at 99 Terrace View Avenue in Marble Hill on Friday, Feb. 4, reportedly due to a combination of staff taking vacation simultaneously and others phoning in sick on Friday.

 

The parent told us there are normally 23 safety agents at the school campus which she said has students attending from all over The Bronx, and which is a scanning school campus (meaning people have to go through a metal detector scanner to enter). She said there were only about half that number of safety agents available on Friday, due to others being on vacation, and that on the day in question, many of those scheduled to work phoned in sick.

 

As a result, there were even fewer staff available on site (a reported two or three) on Friday. She said students were first waiting in the cold outside the school, due to the shortages, as they waited to go through the scanner, and added that some students were eventually sent home by a principal.

 

We reached out to DOE to corroborate if this was what actually happened, and received the following response from DOE on Monday, Feb. 7, “No DOE school sent kids home.” According to Inside Schools, John F. Kennedy Campus reportedly houses some small public high schools and two charter schools.

 

The public schools are Marble Hill School for International Studies,  Bronx Theater High School, Bronx School of Law and Finance, and Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy. The two New Visions charter schools are New Visions Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science and New Visions Charter High School for Humanities. There is also an English Language Learners and International Support Preparatory Academy located on the campus.

 

Norwood News also reached out to the NYPD on the staffing issue. We did not receive an immediate response.